You're right I should have asked her but at the time was worried more about fencing and setting up a stall. The horse is young at 2 years, isn't broken yet and is still growing at just about 14 and a half hands. He's a quarter horse. Someone here at work said they eat a bale a day so I really got a little concerned and I saw this post so I threw the question out here. Jim B's posting with the link helped ease my concerns. He's not here yet so definatley not a moot point. Thanks, Chris Wallace

a 2yr old that is not broke, if you are not set up with good fenceing, stal and a round pen. You are asking for trouble. I use to love breaking horses, not always the easy way. Now that I am getting older falling off hurts alot more. If you want a horse buy 1 trained, they are cheap enough now.

Matt, The horse is a afraid of electric fencing, so all my electric fencing I took down is going up this weekend. I am still a little nervous. I'm on speed dial at the animal control office in town. They've been at my place probably 50 times over the past 10 years. It's all good. They are the best dept. in town and just looking out for me. (All the time). It all is going to be quite an experience. I haven't really been around a horse since I was a kid and I thought my ex ram Bear weighing 230 pounds was a handful. CW

A now deceased farmer friend of mine had over 100 horses and pony's and one mule. Al picked up a 3 year old Ap stallion cheap because everyone else was afraid of it. He tied it on in a cow stall. We hand fed it and bucket watered it. When it refused water and feed we took it just out of reach. We would talk to it and rub it down from an adjacent stall. If we returned an hour or two later suprise the horse would drink and eat. More quiet talk and rub down. When the Ap did the right thing maybe a carrot or apple. After about three weeks we would lead him out to water. A blanket on his back in the stall brought a bit of excitement but with some molasses flavored oats when he calmed down he almost looked forward to the blanket after a while. Saddle. Al wanted me, my son bill and himself to take turns with the horse. Then it was in the stall to tighten the cinch and eventually in the saddle in the stall and over about 3 months out in the barn yard and then eventually out in the pasture. Not exactly the horse whisperer but it worked. Had to tie that Ap on in the barn if there was a mare in heat though. He ended up at Alpha male but never did intimidate the team of Belgins.

Bill

"Life's tough.It's even tougher if you're stupid."- John Wayne

" We hang petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."- Aesop

I've been around horses, quarter horses, for 57 of my 69 years. Sounds like you will be trail riding and not working them. If that's the case, a 1000-1200lb quarter horse will eat about 16 lbs of alfalfa hay per day, and maintain their weight, a little more if the hay is grass or grass mix. You won't need to feed a supplement. If you are going to use them for ranch work or performance you will have to fool around with their feed until you get it right. Might want to also consider feeding a suplement. If you have a two year old and are just starting him don't feed him any extra goodies. You don't want him all jacked up at that stage in his life, and remember whoever came up with the expression, "HEALTHY AS A HORSE", had no idea what they were talking about.

Appears Missouri is about to permit the slaughter of horses. Slaughter houses will pay $50- a year for the permit and then a small fee per horse. The idea is to pay for the cost of state inspectors since federal inspectors are not permitted to inspect hourse slaughtering operations.

My thought. I would much rather see a local market for unwanted horses where they can/will be humanely treated prior to slaughter. Currently horses are shipped to Mexico or Canada to be slaughtered. I'll just leave it at that.